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Using Classified Ads To Maximize
Your Web Marketing Efforts
by
Archie R.
Lawhorne
Obviously
there is quite a bit of interest in marketing on
the web these
days, and for good reason. With
approximately 150 million people connected to the
Internet, and
more
coming on line every day, the marketing
possibilities are
tremendous. The key to success is sorting through
the various
strategies and tactics and begin with the
basics.
One of the most cost-effective tools available is
the classified ad. Today there are literally thousands of
places on
the Net to post free classifieds. And there are
numerous ways to
find them. Simply go to Yahoo, HotBot, AltaVista, or
any of the other search engines and type "free
classifieds." Hundreds of
different sites will appear.
Set an objective of how many listings a day you're
going to post. It can be time-consuming, mindless
work, so plan
this in your "idle" time. Most free ads at
classified
sites expire after a certain amount of time, so keep
track of
which
ones are most effective and keep returning to renew
your ads.
Here's some of the most responsive classified sites
I've
found.
1. The ZAP Directory -
http:/
/www.linkmedi
a.com/inetexch/nowhoo/nowhoo.cgi
2. Yahoo Classifieds -
http://classifieds.yahoo.com
/
3. Business Solutions Classifieds -
http://www.iloft.com
4. Best Mall Classified Ads -
http://www.bestm
all.com/class
/submit.html
5. 1AmericaMall -
http://www.1second.com/f
reead.htm
6. Five Star Classified Ads -
http://www.5starads.com/
7. Classifieds 2000 -
http://www.classifieds200.c
om/
One of my favorite all-around classified ad
resources is the Online Classified Club. This site
offers the
latest
in classified ad resources, tools, tips and know-how
to promote
your web site almost instantly. The cost is only
about 8
cents a day! Among other things, this site gives
you:
· One of the largest list of free classified ad
sites on the Net.
· A classified ad broadcaster service, which blasts
your ad to over 800 sites.
· A state by state classified ad listing (for low
cost off-line advertising)
· Unlimited, automated search engine submissions to
225 search engines
· 11,000 newsletters and 400 Free-for-All links
· 1,000 "order-pulling" headlines
· Numerous software downloads, marketing reports,
and other tools and resources
Here is the link for the Online Classified
Club:
http://www.hi
tekhosting.net/cgi-bin/club_click.cgi?ID5336
Ezine Classifieds
Ezines have become an increasingly popular and
effective means to distribute information. They can also
be one of
the most economical ways to reach a large audience.
It's not
unusual to be able to place a three to five line ad
in an ezine
that has thousands subscribers for less than $40 or
so.
One of the challenges of ezine advertising is
finding the right ezine to advertise in. It's no
problem finding
plenty of ezines, but it can be a tedious task
contacting
publishers
to get demographic and subscriber base information,
as well
as ad rates and submission procedures. I've found a
number of
different directories (listed below) that will help
greatly in
simplifying this process.
The nice thing about ezine advertising is you can
really target your market. I've actually placed some
"exclusive ads" directed to a large number
of
subscribers with some very good
results. If you're not familiar with what an
"exclusive
ad" is, it's simply when the owner of an ezine
lets you send
your sales
message to all the subscribers BY ITSELF. In other
words, your ad
will go out to everyone subscribed to that
particular ezine with
no
other content.
Your response is typically higher, since you've
eliminated all other competing
information.
Next make sure you code your ad in some way to track
responses. This is critical in determining where to
put your
future advertising dollars. If you can't code your
site
URL, you can put a code in your ad and ask for it
when responding
to leads.
Here are a few ezine directory links that I've used
to find ezines that are appropriate for my
particular
offers.
http://www.liszt.com
http://marketingwise.c
om/ezines.htm
http://www.bestezines.com
http://www.e-zinez.com
http://www.infojump.com
http://www.
webcom.com/im
pulse/list.html#Search
http://www.ezineworld.com
Archie R. Lawhorne, APR is an accredited public
relations
professional, marketing writer and president of
Crosspoint
Publishing Company. For information on his current
business, visit his web site at: http://www.s
ixfigureincom
e.com/free/?73917.25
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